Click here for the short video version

Introduction

You want to paint skin, don't you? Summer is coming. And when you think of summer, you think of the ocean, characters in swimsuits, and characters in light clothing (theories vary).

So, I will introduce skin painting in three levels! These levels strictly refer to the amount of effort and "hassle" involved in the drawing; please understand that "taking more time to draw = a better result" is not necessarily true. In fact, there is no direct relationship between effort and a good painting!

At the final Level 3, we will draw a picture like this. Once you know how to do it, it's super easy!

The illustration features an original male character.

This skin painting method is simply the way Asuka Pan usually draws.\n\nSkin painting methods are... well... infinite! Any way you draw it is fine! With that as a premise, please watch with the feeling of "Oh, so that's how the opening picture was drawn."\\nI should mention beforehand that I won't be explaining much about painting parts other than the skin this time. This is a skin painting tutorial, after all...

First, let's draw the base image.

Before processing

After processing

Here is the painting base.\nBefore processing, it is too dark. I've become the type who paints colors with processing as a major prerequisite...\nOf course, it's perfectly fine to paint with colors like the "After processing" version from the start.

Regarding the processing, it looks like this. Since this is a method I'll use frequently in the following explanations, I'll explain it first.\nThe order of the layers is also important, so please use it as a reference. If you change the order, the colors might change!\nI'll explain them starting from the bottom!

Folder containing the drawing (the one labeled Folder 3)

The drawing... in other words, the folder containing all the various elements that make up the drawing. Since I want to clip a Multiply layer on top of it, let's keep everything in one folder.

Clipping Multiply Layer

A Multiply layer clipped to the drawing folder.\n\nIn this case, I'm adding a single-color bluish-gray layer on Multiply (try adding your favorite color. I recommend a color close to gray).\n\nI added this to adjust the overall brightness so it doesn't become too bright in later processing. Adjust the opacity to match the drawing. For this drawing, the opacity is 5%, but if you use a brighter color, a higher opacity might be better.

Hue/Saturation/Luminosity layer

The internal values are as follows: Hue 0, Saturation 8, Luminosity 8.\n\nHowever, there's a small note... Colors close to achromatic (white, black, gray) may have their saturation forced up, resulting in unintended colors, so I'm erasing those parts with a mask. In this drawing, it's the white hair and black clothes.

This is how the colors look without a mask. It depends a lot on preference, but while I wanted a slightly creamy color, it turns out somewhat bluish...

Level Correction

The settings look like this.

What I'm doing is narrowing the ^ marks that were originally at both ends slightly toward the center. Just a little bit.

Color Balance

The settings look like this.

Move the ^ marks slightly: Highlights toward yellow, Half Tones toward magenta, and Shadows toward cyan.

You can try these kinds of adjustments without ruining the original image, so please try messing with the numbers to find a processing method that suits you.

Level 1: Add Multiply + Processing

The easiest way to add shadows. It's fine to finish the whole body this way, not just the skin. I often use this when drawing color manga.\nPurple is recommended for the Multiply color!

Level 2

There's a bit more to do.\nThe steps are as follows:\n\n1. Divide shadows into 2 stages on a Normal layer\n2. Add red to the edges of shadows\n3. Blur shadows slightly\n4. Add color to lines\n5. Apply the processing explained at the beginning\n\nIt suddenly looks much better. I'll skip the detailed theory, but adding a vibrant red to the edges of shadows makes it look professional. It's good to make the color closer to a cool tone the further away it is from the edge.

Divide shadows into 2 stages

Level 2 uses Normal layers for shading instead of Multiply layers. I divide shadows into dark shadows and light shadows. These are often called 1st shadow and 2nd shadow.

Red on shadow edges

Lightly place a vibrant red on the edges. It's also okay to create a new Overlay layer on top of the shadow layer to add the red. There are many ways to do it.

The logic is roughly like this. I first add shadows in red and then lower the saturation with blue or similar. If you "Lock Transparent Pixels" on the shadow layer first, it's convenient because you can apply color only to the parts you've drawn.

Click here for the "Lock Transparent Pixels" function

Blur shadow edges slightly

It looks good if you blur it slightly with a Gaussian blur brush or something similar so as not to overdo it. Gaussian blur brushes are distributed by creators on the Asset Store, so please find one that suits you.

Adding color to lines (Color Trace)

A super easy explanation of how to do "Color Trace" (the method of adding color to line art).

I will explain based on this illustration

1. First, hide the line art and background

2. Layer > "Merge visible to new layer"

3. Move the resulting copy above the line art layer

4. For the resulting copy: Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur

5. Duplicate the blurred layer many times

6. Then, the transparent edges will overlap and become denser, so merge the duplicates

7. Clip the merged layer to the line art layer

8. On top of that, create a new Tonal Correction layer (Hue/Saturation/Luminosity)

9. Turn up the saturation and turn down the luminosity significantly

If it's not clipped, the colors will look like this.

The settings inside the Hue/Saturation/Luminosity layer look like this

10. Add details to overlapping or missing parts and finished. It's fine to just eye-drop the line color and paint over it.

Processing

Finally, apply the processing explained at the beginning. This usually makes it look good.

Level 3

In addition to Level 2, we will add highlights and draw the collarbones. If you've made it to Level 2, it's very easy. You just insert one step before the Level 2 Color Trace.

For moderate protrusions like the collarbones that don't quite need a full shadow, I handle them with redness + highlights. I put redness on the protruding parts and highlights on the recessed parts (between the left and right collarbones). Normally, you'd put highlights on protrusions and shadows on recesses, but strangely, this looks good. Apparently, the logic is that these recessed areas are shining because they receive reflected light from the surrounding skin. Additionally, adding a little highlight to small areas like between fingers or closed armpits makes it look nice.

In addition to the collarbones, I also place highlights on the cheeks and shoulders.

Like this... It looks good if you gently dab color on with an airbrush. Each step is a subtle difference, but those differences should add up to make it look great... hopefully...

Bonus

For the hair that I casually drew, I use an Add (Glow) layer for the bright parts and a Multiply layer for the dark parts. It's handy because it makes it look professional with little effort!

Conclusion

For anime-style characters like this, facial features (like cheekbones or the nose) are rarely drawn in detail, so it's a bit of a puzzle how much to match the body's skin (texture) to the face's depiction...

In my case, I only draw things like the hair shadow, cheek blush, and a few highlights for the face, so I draw this way thinking that expressing protrusions with redness is just right. When drawing muscle or body contours, I adjust it to match the expression I want. If you're drawing the whole body, you might call it finished with the Level 2 method. Although I'm introducing it, if you draw the body with the intensity of Level 3... nowadays, I'm afraid of shadow bans if the skin tone elements are too strong... so you should be careful. Nowadays, even swimsuits can be flagged as NSFW; skin is difficult...

Anime character skin is a bit special. However, if you're drawing human characters, it's a path you can almost never avoid... Everyone, please do your best to make it look good. I'll do my best too.